Babuk Locker Emerges in 2021
In less than a week, 2021 introduced a new type of Enterprise ransomware. Babuk Locker is now less than a month old and has amassed a small collection of victims. So far ransoms have been demanded in bitcoin and are under $100,000, to what I could find.
If you aren’t familiar, Enterprise means that the ransomware is targeting larger businesses. For the size of the corporations targeted and the amounts in ransom, it seems like these early victims are test victims. This means that the hackers are gearing up for a much larger attack while honing the new threat’s effectiveness.
The interesting thing about Babuk Locker is the personalization. So far, most samples contain a hardcoded extension, ransom note, and a Tor victim URL exclusive to the victim. Victims can expect encryption of files and a threat to make them public if the ransom goes unanswered.
Fighting Ransomware
The trend the past year has been exactly like above. A victim is hit, the files encrypted, and the threat of release comes with the ransom note. Fighting ransomware is a multi pronged approach. While keeping back ups of your files will help in your restoration efforts if that’s the avenue you choose, nothing will save you from having your information published online.
That’s the piece of the puzzle that has to be tackled next. It’s interesting to muse how we could fight that. Could we write code that will scramble information as soon as files are compromised? Is there a failsafe that can be put into place to erase data when something tries to encrypt it? That would be the only way to guard against compromised data being published. Eliminate our data completely.
The thought of that is a little nerve wracking. It would mean ensuring that all data was backed up. Although, code written into the programs to essentially self-destruct our data might make it easier to catch intrusions earlier. If code was written that way, how many people would adopt it? There would have to be even further guards written in to make sure data was accidentally deleted.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, as ransomware evolves, so does the technology to fight it. With the SolarWinds hack still fresh in our minds, we’re all looking at what will be next to fight the hackers. Whatever it is, we’re already working on it.
Until then, stay safe out there.
Photo by John Doyle on Unsplash
